2012 Gull Census

A gull
census was carried out this week (29th May) on Puffin Island, using
the raffle ticket method. For this lengthy operation, we helped Sarah Davis
(RSPB), who is running a three year study on gull population decline in the UK.
Arriving at the end of her study, she was interested to include the Puffin
Island colony as a "non predated colony". We were really pleased by this
collaboration, which also provides important data to the long-term monitoring
of the seabird population on Puffin Island.

Another
visit from Sarah and her team is planned later in June for a ringing session of
the gull’s chicks. This will allow her to assess the productivity of the gull
population, using the capture/recapture of large chicks’ method.